Literature in English Past Questions

Study and practice Literature in English past questions with answers and detailed explanations. Then test your knowledge using our interactive CBT practice platform and prepare confidently for your upcoming examinations.

50 questions JAMB 2378 WAEC 1459 CUSTOM 2
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Past Questions

50 questions
Question 1 of 20 50 total questions
Question 11
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
The epilogue in a literary composition is
Aat the beginning
Bin the middle
Cat the end
Djust before the end
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Question 12
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
The basic idea of any given work of art is its
Aimagery
Bstyle
Ctheme
Dtone
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Question 13
jamb 1990

This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter
The letter from used in the novel is particularly effective because it

Ais dramatic in impact
Bdispenses with dialogue
Cis an intimate form of expression
Dis tragic in content
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Question 14
jamb 1990

This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter
'... In spite of your voice and your gift of oratory, you preferred obscure work, less well paid but constructive for your country,...
This description refers to

AModou Fall
BMawdo Ba
CDaouda Dieng
DAissatou
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Question 15
jamb 1990

This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter
'Friendship has splendours that love knows not.
It grows stronger when crossed, whereas obstacles kill love. Friendship resists time, which wearies and severs couples. It has heights unknown to love'.
The friendship referred to in these lines is that between

ABinetou and Modou Fall
BRamatoulaye and Daouda Dieng
CModou Faill and Mawdo Ba
DAissatou and Ramatoulaye
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Question 16
jamb 1990

This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter
Aunty Nabou's subtle influence over young Nabou was developed and effected through

Aformal education
Bfamily ties
Coral education
Dmaternal authority
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Question 17
jamb 1990

This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter
What is the source of Aissatou's success in life?

AVengeance
BFeminine courage
CSocial connections
DLuck
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Question 18
jamb 1990

This question is based on Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God
''...It is praiseworthy to be brave and fearless, my son, but sometimes it is better to be a coward.
We often stand in the compound of a coward to point at the ruins where a brave man used to live. soon submit to the burial mat.''
In this passage, Ezeulu is pointing out to his son the wisdom in

Amoderation
Bbravery
Ccowardice
Dsitting on the fence
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Question 19
jamb 1990

This question is based on Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God
The immediate cause of the war between Umuaro and Okperi was the

Aland dispute
Bmurder of Akukalia
Cintervention of Captain Winterbottom
Dsiting of the colonial adminstrative headquarters at Okperi
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Question 20
jamb 1990

This question is based on Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God
'''It is good for a misfortune like this to happen once in a while,'he said, 'so that we can know the thoughts of our friends and neighbours. Unless the wind blows we do not see the fowl's rump.''
The 'misfortune' referred to in this extract was the

Amisunderstanding between Akueke and her husand
Boutrage which Oduche committed against the sacred python
Csending away of Ezeulu's sons to worship the whiteman's God
Dominous vist of Ezeulu's in-laws to his compound
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Question 21
jamb 1990

This question is based on Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God
Which of the following BEST describes Ezeulu's mood when he was locked up in Okperi by the white administrator?

AIndifference
BDespair
CApathy
DNobility of mind
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Question 22
jamb 1990

This question is based on Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God
'' This madness which they say you have must now begin to know its bounds. You are telling me to go and find cassava for you...''
In view of the speaker's aim, this statement is

Aambiguous
Bhyperbolic
Cironic
Dan understatement
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Question 23
jamb 1990

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) Poems of Black Africa and D.I. Nwoga (ed.) West African Verse.
'The Fulani Creation Story' shows that

Athe world came about by a series of chance happenings
Bthe world was created in three days
Ca logic of cause-and-effect underlies all creation
Ddeath came into the world when man set himself up as God's rival
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Question 24
jamb 1990

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) Poems of Black Africa and D.I. Nwoga (ed.) West African Verse.
'...these white lilies tossed their little heads then
In the moon-steeped ponds;
There was bouncing gaiety in the crisp chirping
Of the cricket in the undergrowth,...
These lines from Kwesi Brew's 'The Executioner's
Dream suggest that

Aeven nature rejoices at human sacrifice
Bnature is indifferent to man's predicament
Cthere is harmony in nature
Dthere is a lot of activity in the undergrowth
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Question 25
jamb 1990

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) Poems of Black Africa and D.I. Nwoga (ed.) West African Verse.
...'the hawk will flutter and turn
On its wings and swoop for the mouse,
The dogs will run for the hare,
The hare for its little life.'
These lines from Kwesi Brew's 'The Dry Season' mean that

Athis is a hunting season
Bthere is chaos
Cthe hare will be killed
Dthe hawk and the dogs are strong
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Question 26
jamb 1990

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) Poems of Black Africa and D.I. Nwoga (ed.) West African Verse.
As suggested in Agostinho Neto's 'Night', the problems the problem of the blackman today drive mostly from

Athe persistance of a superstitious life style that creates only mystery and terror in an otherwise englightened world
Ba fate that made his skin colour indentical to that of night
Cthe lack of a clear sense of direction coupled with years of oppression that weakened his will
Dtoo much haste to catch up with the rest of the world as a result of which the basic structures of development are not being properly laid down
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Question 27
jamb 1990

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) Poems of Black Africa and D.I. Nwoga (ed.) West African Verse.
Theo Luzuka's 'The Motoka' is cast in the mould of

Aa dirge
Ba gossip
Can epistle
Da ditty
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Question 28
jamb 1990

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) Poems of Black Africa and D.I. Nwoga (ed.) West African Verse.
The words 'naked' and 'barefoot' as used in Christopher Okigbo's 'The Passage' suggest

Aaffluence
Bprimitivity
Cpenury
Dreverence
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Question 29
jamb 1990

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) Poems of Black Africa and D.I. Nwoga (ed.) West African Verse.
'When our Dead come with their Dead
When they have spoken to us with their clumsy voices...'
These lines from Birago Diop's poem. 'Vanity', refer to

Athe way in which the dead communicate with us
Bthe clash of cultures in modern civilization
Cthe elders' lack of sophistication
Dour inability to understand our ancestors
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Question 30
jamb 1990

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) Poems of Black Africa and D.I. Nwoga (ed.) West African Verse.
Gabriel Okara presents the Black in relation to the child-Front in his poem 'The Fisherman's invocation as a source of

Ainspiration
Bdestruction
Canxiety
Duncertainty
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